It is believed that in the conventional fuel injection system can be assembled, in part, by mounting an air intake manifold to the intake ports of an engine, inserting the outlet of a fuel injector to an injector boss formed in the intake manifold, and coupling a fuel rail to the fuel injector inlet.
The assembly of the conventional fuel system above is believed to require additional operations. In particular, the inserting of the fuel injector outlet and the injector boss and the fuel injector inlet and the coupling the fuel rail and may require lubrication of respective O-rings between each of the fuel rail and injector boss and possibly adjustments of a clamping force by the fuel rail on the fuel injector and the intake manifold. These types of operation may lead to additional complexity in the manufacturing and assembly of the fuel injection system, which may require human intervention to ensure that there is no leak once the fuel injector is assembled to the intake manifold.
The present invention provides air-fuel module that comprises a manifold, a power group subassembly and a valve group subassembly. The manifold includes first and second portions. The first portion defines a fuel supply passage and at least one air supply passage. The second portion includes a surface that defines a chamber providing a passageway to allow communication with the fuel supply passage and the at least one air supply passage. The power group subassembly has a coil surrounding the surface. The valve group subassembly is disposed within the chamber.
In yet another aspect, the present invention provides for a method of forming an air-fuel module. The air-fuel module includes a manifold and a valve group subassembly. The manifold includes first and second wall portions. The first wall portion has a fuel supply passage and at least one air supply passage extending between an inlet and an outlet. The second wall portion has a wall surface defining a chamber. The method can be achieved by surrounding the wall surface of the chamber with a coil of a power group subassembly; and inserting the valve group subassembly into the chamber.